North Hampton gets set to celebrate Library Day

NORTH HAMPTON — North Hampton will look to the past this weekend as it celebrates a historic piece of town still heavily entwined in the communal fabric.

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By Kyle Stucker

seacoastonline.com

By Kyle Stucker

Posted Jun. 23, 2014 at 6:50 PM
Updated Jun 23, 2014 at 6:53 PM

By Kyle Stucker

Posted Jun. 23, 2014 at 6:50 PM
Updated Jun 23, 2014 at 6:53 PM

» Social News

NORTH HAMPTON — North Hampton will look to the past this weekend as it celebrates a historic piece of town still heavily entwined in the communal fabric.

Saturday, June 28, is North Hampton Library Day. The town will hold a food-, game- and celebration-filled event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to honor the inclusion of the stone Town Clerk’s Office building — which was North Hampton’s library from 1907 to 1973 — on the National Register of Historic Places and raise awareness about the roles libraries still play in the community.

“It’s been great to see how important the library is to (individuals and businesses) in the community,” said library trustee Kelly Parrott.

Library Day will kick off with a dedication of the stone building, located on Atlantic Avenue next to the current North Hampton Public Library. Parrott said a great-grandchild of North Hampton’s first librarian, Levi W. Fogg, will participate in the ceremony, which will be followed by a silent auction, prizes and a number of other family-friendly activities.

The event is also designed as a way to “keep the awareness alive” about ongoing efforts to raise $1.2 million to construct a new library and cultural center, according to Parrott. Parrott said Library Day will serve as a fund-raising “launching point” of sorts for the rest of the year, as the library has raised $287,663 to date and is still attempting to secure several large and pending contributions.

Parrott said the efforts are in “a little bit of a state of flux” due to Select Board changes brought by the annual elections in March. The municipal complex project — which included a new library — didn’t gain enough votes to pass during the Town Meeting process, and Parrott said the unknown brought by both of these developments has slowed several large donations.

“One of the biggest parts of fund-raising is having a known location,” said Parrott. “I hope that will be finalized soon.”

The town is currently working to identify how it will proceed in order to get parts of, or a form of, the municipal complex project approved by the general public.

More information about Library Day is available online at northhampton-nh.gov.